Hello,
I`m new to iMac, what do you all recommend for software to download .pdf files and open them? Much appreciate any help. Thanks.

Duxfordmemory

Preview, which is built into OS X can read PDFs. So you dont need any now software. As for downloading, Im not shure what youre talking about. Its like downloading any other file.

Hi TVT,
Wrong choice of words on my part. I have no problem downloading PDF files as you say. I DO have a problem opening them however. Upon downloading the pdf file, how do you go about using Preview to open it? I`ve tried opening Preview by clicking on it-no luck. I`ve tried dragging the pdf file and dropping it on the Preview icon-no luck. What am I missing?

Duxfordmemory

I'm not familiar with the Mac but, just for curiousity, what happens when you RightClick on the file?

Do you know what, if anything, does open them by default?

To open one with preview, right-click(ctrl-click) on the pdf and go "open with", and select preview.

To rowal5555 and TVT:
Thanks for the response people. I right click on the pdf file and this is the message I get: "Couldn`t open the file. It may be corrupt or a file format Preview doesn`t recognize. I`ve tried a number of pdf files with the same result. Any more ideas before I throw in the towel and go back to my PC?

Thats weird. Try downloading Acrobat Reader

Are the pdfs all from the same source?

That is weird. I have no problems opening PDF files with Preview. Maybe the PDF downloads were corrupted or didn't download correctly. When you download a PDF look at the size of the PDF being downloaded, and when it has finished downloading right click on the file then Get Info. Are the sizes the same?
Safari browser can load PDF files for viewing without downloading them.
Can you post a link to one of the PDF files so I can try downloading and opening it with Preview.

To one and all,
I downloaded Acrobat reader and got the same result, possibly corrupt files, etc. Before I get too carried away, I`ll take another look at file size, source, and the steps I`ve employed in my unsuccessful attempts. I may not be able to resolve this issue right away as I`m leaving for two weeks as of tomorrow. Regardless, thank you all for your input.

Duxfordmemory